The Clown Car
by Neko-hanyu
Summary: Four teens go camping on an extended weekend in the Alaskan wilderness. While looking for marshmallow sticks they group stumbles upon an abandoned clown car and everything goes down hill from there.


It was eighty-five degrees and promised to be a beautiful weekend. Summer school was out for two days and the weather streak had been extremely warm for late summer in Alaska. With high hopes for a great weekend the four teens crammed their gear in the back and piled into the small red car. It was a three and a half hour drive to the campground and the antsy adolescents were already dreading every moment of it. The two boys in the back argued over who would get the door seat after the first rest stop while the two girls up front cackled and grinned at each other. It payed to have a best friend own a car, it meant automatic shotgun and one more thing to hold over the boys.

While Zack and Nathan shifted their argument from seating choice to snacks Rin and biz set up their play-list for the drive before merging into the steady stream of traffic on the Old Seward Highway. Eventually the traffic thinned allowing the small car to coast at seventy, the vehicle was buzzing with teenage banter. As the round-robin conversation switched back to Rin who calmly folded her hand into her lap before continuing her rant on the school system, this topic was picked up instantly from the other three and soon they were all talking at once. Mid conversation Rin threw her hands onto the steering wheel with a screech of 'holy shit, I'm driving!'

All was silent in the car but the music as the three passengers stared in shocked horror at her. With a nervous giggle and a sheepish grin Rin urged them all to continue the conversation. Zack being the first to recover demanded that they make a pit-stop soon, after that the conversation lulled into a companionable silence. The minutes dragged on and once more the teens grew antsy, Rin was on then look out for the next mile marker praying that she wouldn't have to have her back seat shampooed when they got back into town. The boys in the back were the first to talk again; video games this, video games that, girls, porn, and more video games. With an indulgent sigh and roll of her eyes biz joined in the conversation about video games, if only to get them to stop talking about porn again. The conversation was brought to an end as the car pulled off the highway and into a gas station parking lot. The teens scrambled out of the car and into the building on limp the boys used the facilities the girls gathered some more snacks and the gas station equivalent of real food. After paying for their "food" the girls returned to the car momentarily to drop it off before making use of modern plumbing themselves. The boys in the meantime had once more loaded themselves down with snacks and were waiting in the car. Twenty minutes after pulling into the station the car pulled out once more and the teens headed back to their weekend adventure.

They made it to the campground just over three hours after having set out for the trip thanks to Rins lead foot. After a quick stretch they set about preparing camp, the boys were assigned tent duty while the girls got out the chairs and assembled the awning over the picnic table. An hour and three sword fights later the tent was finally set up and the campsite complete, to toast their weekend they started a fire and set off to find the perfect marshmallow sticks. As the four ambled into the woods surrounding the site they were all preoccupied with thoughts of deliciously warm and gooey sweet treats.

"So I call dibs on the first stick we find...just thought you guys would like to know." came the imperious statement from the large male who was a bit behind the other three.

"Dude, you can't call dibs. What are we like five or something? Besides why should you get the first stick, is it so you can head back to camp and eat all the marshmallows?" the tall lanky male replied while turning to look behind him at his best friend. "If were calling dibs on shit then I call dibs on sharing a sleeping bag with biz, so there!" The latest statement started an argument between the two while the girls simply rolled their eyes.

"No way dude! That's not fair, I didn't know we were calling dibs on shit like that! Anyway what gives you the right to share a sleeping bag with biz, huh? Why do you automatically become the 'privileged' one?" Zack asked angrily. They continued in this fashion for the next couple of minutes before biz snapped and put an end to it.

"No one is getting 'dibs' on who shares the sleeping bag with me, its already been decided. Rin and I in one and you two in the other, on the other side of the tent with the divider down! If I hear one more statement about sleeping arrangements from either of you, so help me you'll be sleeping outside on the table. Got it?" turning back to face Rin she rolled her eyes and grimaced before continuing on leaving the stunned boys behind her. They stared mouths agape at the retreating figures of the girls. Zack looked at Nathan and grinned doggedly before heading off after them.

"Dude, you are _so_ in trouble now, I'm glad I'm not you."

"Oh will you shut it already? You've gotten me in enough trouble as it is." And with that the two ran to catch up with the girls.

The young group continued into the empty forest on the lookout for their sticks. As they continued onward the sky seemed to darken and their surroundings quieted to a dull throbbing of rustling leaves and snapping branches. Zack ran into Nathan who had stumbled into Rin who had tripped on Liz when she stopped abruptly. There staring out at them from the darkened bushes was a decrepit clown car. With its bright paint faded and spots rusting out the car was disturbing eyesore. The front had a grinning clown painted on in muted pastels with rusted ares covering its pointed teeth. With a shudder Liz turned and faced the group, pale faced she grinned uncomfortably before asking.

"So...does anyone else wanna head back to camp now? I'm not really in the mood for sweets anymore," she said uncertainly.

With muttered agreements from the other three they made a speedy about faces and headed back towards the camp. It seemed like hours had passed as they meandered through the woods losing what little bit of directional sense they had. They stumbled into a clearing and tried to gage their position with the car and their camp. They argued in muttered clips while pacing and shifting, eyes darting around in building terror. There was a jingle from behind and suddenly all hell broke loose.

A demented giggle built up to an uproarious screech as something small and brightly coloured streamed out of the woods. There was screaming, crying, and general chaos as the teens started and attempted to flee the screeching thing. Zack went down and with the thing suddenly distracted the remaining three darted of the clearing and heading at random away. There was a terrible scream and a bone chilling laughter before the screaming was abruptly cut off. The three remaining teens finally streamed out of the woods and into their campground, bypassing the tent and fire-pit they piled into the car. Peeling out of the spot with gravel spraying they continued down the road and never once looked back as they escaped back to Anchorage.

Sitting in the shadowed greenery surrounding the camp the midnight sun glinted off the gleaming eyes and jagged teeth that were stained a rusted red.


End file.
